application development - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Mozilla offers app to create Web pages on smartphones

  The Mozilla Foundation wants to make sure that the Web remains a platform where anyone can create content, rather than just a place to consume information and services created by others.

• Parse opens up SDKs to Apple, Android developers

  Parse, <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2824545/application-development/review-parse-delivers-mobile-apps-not-for-business.html">which provides a cloud platform for mobile and desktop apps,</a> plans to open-source all of its SDKs, starting with kits for iOS, OS X and Android.

• GitHub launches desktop client to lure more developers

  Looking to expand its already considerable user base, GitHub has introduced a new desktop GUI client that streamlines many of the functions of the online code repository.

• Microsoft retools F# for Visual Studio 2015

  F#, a functional programming language developed by Microsoft Research, is getting a second generation of tools for use with the Visual Studio software development platform.

• Digium helps mobile apps communicate better with new SDKs

  Digium has launched open source SDKs that aim to make it easier for developers to add voice and video calling, instant messaging, and push notifications to their Android and iOS apps.

• Once-declining Java cements its lead in language popularity index

  Once-faltering Java is beginning to run away with the Tiobe language popularity index, with the language getting a shot in the arm from last year's Java 8 release.

• Microsoft offers Windows developers a bridge to Apple iOS

  Having promised developers to be less Windows-centric and more cross platform friendly, Microsoft has released software that helps programmers more easily bridge the divide between Apple applications and Windows applications.

• How Facebook made mobile site faster for users with limited bandwidth

  By resorting to unconventional engineering, Facebook saves users in developing countries precious bandwidth while still offering them a close-to-optimal Facebook experience.

• Unforked: io.js v3 sets stage for Node.js merger

  What is expected to be the last line of the io.js platform made its debut this week, with the arrival of version 3.0.0.

• Salesforce tools let customers snap together new mobile apps

  Mobile apps now figure almost as prominently in enterprises as they do in the consumer world, and on Tuesday Salesforce rolled out some new DIY tools that aim to help business users "roll their own" apps as needs arise.

• Java devs abhor Oracle's plan to kill private APIs

  Key Java proponents are up in arms over the planned elimination of private API capabilities, specifically sun.Misc.unsafe, in the upcoming Java Standard Edition 9 release.

• JRuby upgrade promises better performance

  JRuby, a veteran among languages other than Java riding atop the JVM, will be upgraded Wednesday with the release of JRuby 9000.

• 9 ways developers can rebuild trust on the Internet

  The Internet is a pit of epistemological chaos. As Peter Steiner posited -- and millions of chuckles peer-reviewed -- in his famous New Yorker cartoon, there's no way to know if you're swapping packets with a dog or the bank that claims to safeguard your money. To make matters worse, Edward Snowden has revealed that the NSA may be squirreling away a copy of some or all of our packets, and given the ease with which it can be done, other countries and a number of rogue hacker groups may very well be following the NSA's lead.

• Esri to unveil mapping tools in R

  Esri is set to announce an open-source software bridge that makes it faster and easier to move mapping data between ArcGIS and R. The aim is to help R users tap into an organization's GIS data housed within ArcGIS, a popular platform for high-powered geo-analysis, without the need to generate intermediate files. However, the code will also work to pull in any vector or tabular data supported by ArcGIS -- including but not limited to Shapefiles -- whether or not that data is stored within ArcGIS.

• Microsoft Visual Studio understands a world beyond Windows

  Once devoted chiefly to developing desktop and server Windows applications, the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) is increasingly resembling a Swiss Army Knife, able to support myriad computing platforms, languages and runtime environments.